Arcane in 5.2

Hey fellow mages, recently I have been hearing that the arcane spec in 5.2 is actually still quite good and would be the best spec at higher gear levels beating out even fire. Had a small play around with it and it was just behind frost for me on dummys, but I only have 499 ilev.

I thought they had killed off the spec completely with the nerfs in 5.2 and the first thing I did when I logged in to 5.2 was switch specs and I haven't touched it at all before today.

Basically I am looking for some feedback from anyone who plays arcane on how it feels/numbers in comparison to the other specs.

My ilvl is similar to yours and I have tried both arcane and frost in 5.2. Arcane (mastery build) is actually not that bad and doable on Jin'rokh...especially if you don't get to many focused lightning's (but i believe frost is still a little stronger). Anticipation along with blink and blazing speed can help minimize movement for max uptime. Although I have limited progression in normal/heroic ToT I believe this is probably the only boss where arcane is viable due to movement requirements needed on the other boss's. Perhaps someone with more raid progress can chime in, but I suspect if they have significant progress they were not using arcane.

Lol? I'm at 11/12 normal, working hard on Lei Shen and I've been really high with dps on every fight so far, unless when the mechanics require you to suck (like Megaera), but then it's not a spec problem, it's just that the mechanics gimp you. You might have issues with Tortos and you might be somewhat lost during the Durumu maze phase, but the rest is a breeze.

I stopped taking seriously Arcane doomsayers a long time ago. At least now we can do decent burst and don't have any issues with repositioning, *even* with Rune of Power. Ultimately, Greater Invisibility provides a spectacular way of staying in one spot and cheating mechanics (Lei Shen Thunderstruck rofl).

Stop making claims like this, this game is not black and white. Just because YOU dont like a spec does not mean its "simply unplayable".

Arcane is very viable this tier if you look at logs.

Pretty much everything he posts is whining or complaining about various things he hasn't tried or refuses to try.

Arcane's a very different spec this tier, IMHO the movement on many fights makes the other two stronger, but with good positioning arcane can put out the same numbers. Positioning is the big key. The other two specs are forgiving of it as you have way more leeway should you be too close to something or whatnot, with arcane you need to be better at predicting your movement ten seconds in advance.

Nooo, rolling dude (Kazra'Jin) is amazing because whenever he rolls on me (all the time), I get reminded to put Nether Tempest on everything breathing in that room. We mostly keep Mar'Li far away from the raid and Kazra'Jin is rolling around so Fire and Frost don't have the space/time to aoe/cleave as they could if the targets were stacked.

And then come the little Sand monster and Barrage kaboom before any kind of Frozen Orb reaches them

i use exp/mastery gem because i personally think 2 haste>1int and 2 mastery>1 int which means if i have more hit with me i can refoge hit out into haste/mastery

this is to ensure that i have extra nether tempest tick at 20.9% haste raid buffed

i switch around glyphs around the fight and i dont really like using arc power glyph at the moment

---------- Post added 2013-03-26 at 06:18 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Shangalar

Nooo, rolling dude (Kazra'Jin) is amazing because whenever he rolls on me (all the time), I get reminded to put Nether Tempest on everything breathing in that room. We mostly keep Mar'Li far away from the raid and Kazra'Jin is rolling around so Fire and Frost don't have the space/time to aoe/cleave as they could if the targets were stacked.

And then come the little Sand monster and Barrage kaboom before any kind of Frozen Orb reaches them

N-no. I don't know who told you that, but they're insane. Fire will ALWAYS win at the highest gear levels, until they revamp our speccs.

Even moreso than previous expansions due to Critical Mass, as Crit now scales exponentially rather than linearly.

They did kill off the specc completely.

Not just with damage nerfs, but with ZERO immobile fights this tier, and most of them having TONS of movement, Arcane is simply unplayable.

N nnn-no actually. Arcane dps is actually very strong. It just requires a higher skill cap. At 514 ilvl I have played both frost and arcane through all of tot with heroic progression active now. I don't have enough crit for fire but what I can say is that for normal mode arcane is very strong and it's cleave dmg is insanely good. In heroic modes arcane is significantly harder to play but the damage is there. I've gone frost for learning purposes but may switch back to arcane once I am able to plan my rop placement better and know the mechanics well. Saying arcane is dead is just ignorant. Means you have not given it a proper go or aren't good enough to play it.

Lol? I'm at 11/12 normal, working hard on Lei Shen and I've been really high with dps on every fight so far, unless when the mechanics require you to suck (like Megaera), but then it's not a spec problem, it's just that the mechanics gimp you. You might have issues with Tortos and you might be somewhat lost during the Durumu maze phase, but the rest is a breeze.

I stopped taking seriously Arcane doomsayers a long time ago. At least now we can do decent burst and don't have any issues with repositioning, *even* with Rune of Power. Ultimately, Greater Invisibility provides a spectacular way of staying in one spot and cheating mechanics (Lei Shen Thunderstruck rofl).

N nnn-no actually. Arcane dps is actually very strong. It just requires a higher skill cap. At 514 ilvl I have played both frost and arcane through all of tot with heroic progression active now. I don't have enough crit for fire but what I can say is that for normal mode arcane is very strong and it's cleave dmg is insanely good. In heroic modes arcane is significantly harder to play but the damage is there. I've gone frost for learning purposes but may switch back to arcane once I am able to plan my rop placement better and know the mechanics well. Saying arcane is dead is just ignorant. Means you have not given it a proper go or aren't good enough to play it.

High skill cap. Yeah, right. None of the Mage specs require it at present; point of fact, the most 'skill' required at present it a toss up between proc management as Frost and Combustion timing as Fire.

---------- Post added 2013-03-26 at 08:29 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Shangalar

Lol? I'm at 11/12 normal, working hard on Lei Shen and I've been really high with dps on every fight so far, unless when the mechanics require you to suck (like Megaera), but then it's not a spec problem, it's just that the mechanics gimp you. You might have issues with Tortos and you might be somewhat lost during the Durumu maze phase, but the rest is a breeze.

I stopped taking seriously Arcane doomsayers a long time ago. At least now we can do decent burst and don't have any issues with repositioning, *even* with Rune of Power. Ultimately, Greater Invisibility provides a spectacular way of staying in one spot and cheating mechanics (Lei Shen Thunderstruck rofl).

I have, and I can assure you that Arcane is basically garbage compared to the other two specs. Not merely from a damage standpoint, either.

I would dearly love to play the spec again, but it's really just a matter of why would I bother playing Arcane when you can get superior and more mobile damage out of Frost or Fire? The playstyle isn't as attractive as it once was.

High skill cap. Yeah, right. None of the Mage specs require it at present; point of fact, the most 'skill' required at present it a toss up between proc management as Frost and Combustion timing as Fire.

---------- Post added 2013-03-26 at 08:29 AM ----------

I have, and I can assure you that Arcane is basically garbage compared to the other two specs. Not merely from a damage standpoint, either.

I would dearly love to play the spec again, but it's really just a matter of why would I bother playing Arcane when you can get superior and more mobile damage out of Frost or Fire? The playstyle isn't as attractive as it once was.

how can you "assure" thing when you dont even have the proof?? arcane damage is there but most people prefer playing fire due to not being able to be stuck in one place >_>

i think alot of people just got used to scorch weaving back in 5.1 which made the spec too dull and easy to play